Pipe up for state artifact not getting any younger

Thursday

Nov 29, 2012 at 12:01 AMNov 29, 2012 at 12:11 PM

After more than three years of lobbying, students from the Columbus School for Girls watched Ohio move one step closer to adopting the Adena pipe as the state artifact. The 80 girls, some crossing their fingers for good luck, sat in the gallery yesterday as the House voted 98-0 in favor of House Bill 501. After the successful vote, the girls hugged one another. But the excitement was short-lived.

After more than three years of lobbying, students from the Columbus School for Girls watched Ohio move one step closer to adopting the Adena pipe as the state artifact.

The 80 girls, some crossing their fingers for good luck, sat in the gallery yesterday as the House voted 98-0 in favor of House Bill 501. After the successful vote, the girls hugged one another.

“It was amazing that I got to come here,” Isabella Minkin, 9, said.

But the excitement was short-lived. The students went to the office of Senate President Tom Niehaus to lobby for a vote by the end of the year. But they were told it won’t happen, meaning they will have to start the process over next year, said Tracy Kessler, a fourth-grade teacher.

“It will not be taken up before the end of this General Assembly, and the reason is there is just not enough time,” said Angela Meleca, spokeswoman for Niehaus, a New Richmond Republican.

Kessler, who has been working with fellow teacher Charlotte Stiverson on the project, said the students won’t give up.

After the vote in the House, students said the process has taught them much about the prehistoric Adena culture as well as how a bill becomes a law.

Stephanie Presper, 12, said she learned patience and how to work with people, because getting to this point had not been easy.

The idea started with this year’s class of seventh-graders when they were in fourth grade. While learning Ohio history, they realized the state didn’t have an official artifact despite having an official bug (ladybug) and beverage (tomato juice).

The pipe, which is in the Ohio Historical Society collection, is carved from Ohio pipestone into an effigy of an American Indian man. It was found in the Adena Mound in Chillicothe on Thomas Worthington’s estate. According to the Historical Society website, “effigy pipes are highly unusual and the Adena Pipe is virtually unique.”

Over the years, the students have written letters to their legislators and testified before the House State Government and Elections Committee. A similar bill was first introduced more than three years ago, but budget issues took priority so it stalled.

Rep. Mike Duffey, R-Worthington, who co-sponsored the bill with Rep. John Carney, D-Clintonville, said the students are “fearsome lobbyists” and their testimony was “impressively researched.”

“It made them very passionate about history,” Kessler said. “I think when you bring government to life you get authentic, lasting learning.”